Legions Frequently Asked Questions

Compiled by Paul Barclay, David DeLaney, and Jeff JordanMonday, February 03, 2003

The first section ("General Notes") explains the new mechanics and concepts in the set. The second section ("Card-Specific Notes") contains answers to the most important questions players might ask about a given card.

Items in the "Card-Specific Notes" section include full rules text for your reference. Not all cards in the set are listed.

GENERAL NOTES

Amplify

The official rules for the amplify ability are as follows:

502.27. Amplify

502.27a Amplify is a static ability. "Amplify [X]" means "As this card comes into play, reveal any number of cards from your hand that share a creature type with this card. This card comes into play with X +1/+1 counters on it for each card revealed this way. You can't reveal this card or any other cards that are coming into play at the same time as this card."

502.27b If a creature has multiple instances of amplify, each one works separately.

* The player who will control the creature is the one who reveals the cards.

* Each revealed card must share a creature type with the amplify card. The reminder text reminds you what those types are.

* Playing the Onslaught™ card Artificial Evolution on an amplify spell on the stack can change what types need to be revealed. The card Conspiracy can also change what types need to be revealed.

* If multiple creatures with amplify are going to come into play under your control at the same time, you're allowed to reveal the same cards for each of them.

* If you play Clone and choose for it to copy a creature with amplify, you get to reveal cards and get +1/+1 counters.

Double Strike

The official rules for the double-strike ability and updated rules for the first-strike ability are as follows:

502.28 Double Strike

502.28a Double strike is a static ability that modifies the rules for the combat damage step.

502.28b During the combat damage step, if at least one attacking or blocking creature has double strike or first strike, creatures without double strike or first strike (see rule 502.2) don't assign combat damage. Instead of proceeding to end of combat, the phase gets a second combat damage step to handle the remaining creatures. Creatures with double strike also assign combat damage during the second combat damage step.

502.28c Removing double strike from a creature during the first combat damage step will stop it from assigning combat damage in the second combat damage step.

502.28d Giving double strike to a creature after combat damage has been put onto the stack in the first combat damage step will allow the creature to assign combat damage in the second combat damage step, even if it already assigned combat damage in the first combat damage step.

502.28e Multiple instances of double strike on the same creature are redundant.

502.2. First Strike

502.2a First strike is a static ability that modifies the rules for the combat damage step.

502.2b During the combat damage step, if at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike, creatures without first strike or double strike (see rule 502.28) don't assign combat damage. Instead of proceeding to end of combat, the phase gets a second combat damage step to handle the remaining creatures.

502.2c Adding or removing first strike after the first combat damage step won't prevent a creature from dealing combat damage or allow it to deal combat damage twice.

502.2d Multiple instances of first strike on the same creature are redundant.

* Double strike isn't first strike. Effects that make a creature lose first strike won't make it lose double strike.

* Creatures with double strike and creatures with first strike deal combat damage in the first combat damage step.

* All creatures that didn't assign combat damage in the first combat damage step assign combat damage in the second combat damage step. In addition, all creatures with double strike assign combat damage again in the second step.

* If a creature has both double strike and trample, the combat damage it assigned during the first combat damage step will be considered when determining how much damage can trample through in the second combat damage step.

Provoke

The official rules for the provoke ability are as follows:

502.29. Provoke

502.29a Provoke is a triggered ability. "Provoke" means "Whenever this creature attacks, you may choose to have target creature defending player controls block this creature this combat if able. If you do, untap that creature."

502.29b If a creature has multiple instances of provoke, each triggers separately.

* There's no requirement for the provoked creature to be tapped or to be able to block.

* You can choose not to force the creature to block, in which case it won't untap.

* If the provoked creature becomes tapped before the declare blockers step, it won't be able to block.

* If a creature is provoked by more than one creature, the controller of the provoked creature chooses which one it blocks.

* If the provoked creature has any costs to block, those costs don't have to be paid. If the costs are paid, the provoked creature must block the creature with provoke.

Morph

Morph Triggered Abilities

* Many Legions cards have abilities that trigger when the cards are turned face up. These abilities work like normal triggered abilities.

Defender of the Order Creature -- Cleric 2/4 Morph (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) When Defender of the Order is turned face up, creatures you control get +0/+2 until end of turn.

* Morph triggers will trigger when the card is turned face up either by an effect or if its morph cost is paid.

* Morph triggers don't trigger when the card is looked at or leaves play.

Slivers

* Slivers can grant activated or static abilities to Slivers in play. Not all Slivers grant abilities. Some have abilities that trigger when Slivers do things, and some have static abilities that affect the rules of the game, such as "Any player may play Sliver cards any time he or she could play an instant."

* You can change creatures of other types into Slivers so they can get the benefits of being a Sliver.

* You can use Artificial Evolution on any Sliver to make it affect another creature type (this would also change the type of the Sliver, so it would still affect itself).

* The triggered ability is controlled by Brood Sliver's controller, but the controller of the Sliver that dealt damage chooses whether to put the token into play (under his or her control).

Canopy Crawler Creature -- Beast 2/2 Amplify 1 (As this card comes into play, put a +1/+1 counter on it for each Beast card you reveal in your hand.): Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each +1/+1 counter on Canopy Crawler.

* The second ability counts the number of +1/+1 counters on the Crawler when the ability resolves. If that number changes afterward, the bonus granted won't change.

Celestial Gatekeeper Creature -- Bird Cleric 2/2 Flying When Celestial Gatekeeper is put into a graveyard from play, remove it from the game, then return up to two target Bird and/or Cleric cards from your graveyard to play.

* You can target the Gatekeeper in your graveyard with its own ability, but it will be removed from the game before it can be returned to play. The other target will still be returned to play.

Chromeshell Crab Creature -- Beast 3/3 Morph (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) When Chromeshell Crab is turned face up, you may exchange control of target creature you control and target creature an opponent controls.

* You don't have to exchange control of the Crab with your opponent's creature. You can exchange one of your other creatures with your opponent's creature.

* Choose whether or not to make the exchange when the ability resolves.

Dark Supplicant Creature -- Cleric 1/1, Sacrifice three Clerics: Search your graveyard, hand, and/or library for a card named Scion of Darkness and put it into play. If you search your library this way, shuffle it.

* You don't have to search your library if you don't want to. You can just search the other zones. If you don't search your library, you don't have to shuffle.

Daru Stinger Creature -- Soldier 1/1 Amplify 1 (As this card comes into play, put a +1/+1 counter on it for each Soldier card you reveal in your hand.): Daru Stinger deals damage equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on it to target attacking or blocking creature.

* The second ability counts the number of +1/+1 counters on the Stinger when the ability resolves.

Dermoplasm Creature -- Shapeshifter 1/1 Flying Morph (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) When Dermoplasm is turned face up, you may put a creature card with morph from your hand into play face up. If you do, return Dermoplasm to its owner's hand.

* The new creature comes into play face up, which doesn't count as turning that creature face up.

* Dermoplasm returns to your hand only if you put a creature into play.

* If the Drinker leaves play before it deals combat damage, you won't have to sacrifice a permanent. If it leaves play because of combat damage, you will.

* You only sacrifice one permanent, no matter how many things the Drinker deals combat damage to at once.

Embalmed Brawler Creature -- Zombie 2/2 Amplify 1 (As this card comes into play, put a +1/+1 counter on it for each Zombie card you reveal in your hand.) Whenever Embalmed Brawler attacks or blocks, you lose 1 life for each +1/+1 counter on it.

* The second ability counts the number of +1/+1 counters on the Brawler when the ability resolves.

Hollow Specter Creature -- Specter 2/2 Flying Whenever Hollow Specter deals combat damage to a player, you may pay . If you do, that player reveals X cards from his or her hand and you choose one of them. That player discards that card.

* You choose a value for X and pay for it when the triggered ability resolves. The damaged player chooses X cards to reveal, then you choose one of those cards for that player to discard.

Hunter Sliver Creature -- Sliver 1/1 All Slivers have provoke. (When a Sliver attacks, its controller may have target creature defending player controls untap and block it if able.)

* This Sliver gives the ability to your Slivers and all other players' Slivers.

Infernal Caretaker Creature -- Cleric 2/2 Morph (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) When Infernal Caretaker is turned face up, return all Zombie cards from all graveyards to their owners' hands.

* The Caretaker's triggered ability isn't optional, and it works for all players.

Kilnmouth Dragon Creature -- Dragon 5/5 Amplify 3 (As this card comes into play, put three +1/+1 counters on it for each Dragon card you reveal in your hand.) Flying: Kilnmouth Dragon deals damage equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on it to target creature or player.

* The second ability counts the number of +1/+1 counters on the Dragon when the ability resolves.

Krosan Vorine Creature -- Cat Beast 3/2 Provoke (When this attacks, you may have target creature defending player controls untap and block it if able.) Krosan Vorine can't be blocked by more than one creature.

* If you use the Vorine's provoke ability to force a creature to block it, that creature must block it, and no other creature can.

Lavaborn Muse Creature -- Spirit 3/3 At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, if that player has two or fewer cards in hand, Lavaborn Muse deals 3 damage to him or her.

* The player must have two or fewer cards in hand both when the ability triggers and when it resolves.

Magma Sliver Creature -- Sliver 3/3 All Slivers have ": Target Sliver gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the number of Slivers in play."

* This Sliver gives the ability to your Slivers and all other players' Slivers.

* Count the number of Slivers in play when the ability resolves.

Master of the Veil Creature -- Wizard 2/3 Morph (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) When Master of the Veil is turned face up, you may turn target creature with morph face down.

* Master of the Veil can turn itself face down with its own morph triggered ability.

Mistform Sliver Creature -- Illusion Sliver 1/1 All Slivers have ": This creature's type becomes the creature type of your choice in addition to its other types until end of turn."

* This Sliver gives the ability to your Slivers and all other players' Slivers.

* Unlike other type-changing cards, Mistform Sliver's ability adds a creature type to the creature rather than replacing the creature's type.

* Any number of types may be added by playing this ability multiple times. But if the creature's type is later changed by another spell or ability that replaces rather than adds types, that spell or ability will replace all the creature's previous types, including added types. (Artificial Evolution would not replace all types this way, however. It replaces only one creature type.)

Mistform Ultimus Creature -- Illusion Legend 3/3 Mistform Ultimus is every creature type (even if this card isn't in play). Mistform Ultimus may attack as though it weren't a Wall.

* The types "Illusion" and "Legend" are printed on the card's type line purely for flavor. The Ultimus has every other creature type as well.

* It's a Legend, so the Legend rule applies to it. It's also a Wall, so the Wall rule applies to it (although it has an ability that allows it to ignore this rule). It's also a Sliver, and so will gain all Sliver abilities.

* Artificial Evolution doesn't affect this creature's types at all, although changing the word "Wall" in the second ability to another type will prevent the Ultimus from attacking because it will still be a Wall.

* Like any creature, if the Ultimus "becomes" another type as the result of a spell or ability, it will lose all its other creature types. For example, if your opponent uses Imagecrafter to turn your Ultimus into a Soldier, your Ultimus will be only a Soldier. All its other types will be lost for the rest of the turn.

Phage the Untouchable Creature -- Minion Legend 4/4 When Phage the Untouchable comes into play, if you didn't play it from your hand, you lose the game. Whenever Phage deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature. It can't be regenerated. Whenever Phage deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game.

* The first ability will apply no matter how Phage is brought into play except when you play it from your hand as a spell.

* The first and third abilities cause players to lose the game.

* For the second and third abilities, if the combat damage is prevented, the ability won't trigger.

Planar Guide Creature -- Cleric 1/1, Remove Planar Guide from the game: Remove all creatures from the game. At end of turn, return those cards to play under their owners' control.

* When the creatures leave play, all enchantments on them are put into their owners' graveyards and any counters on them are removed.

* Token creatures aren't returned to play.

* Creatures that were face down will return to play face up. (They're also face up when in the removed-from-the-game zone.)

* All "comes into play" abilities of the removed creatures work when they return to play.

* If the ability is played during the end of turn step, the creatures are returned to play at the end of the next turn.

Quick Sliver Creature -- Sliver 1/1 You may play Quick Sliver any time you could play an instant. Any player may play Sliver cards any time he or she could play an instant.

* The first ability applies while Quick Sliver is in a zone from which you can play it.

* The second ability applies while Quick Sliver is in play. It applies to other Sliver cards that are in zones from which they can be played.

* The change to the Mangler's power doesn't end at the end of the turn.

* If the Mangler targets itself, it will set its power to its current power.

* The effect of this power change is applied after the effect of any power-adjusting counters (such as +1/+1 counters), so if the ability has ever been played, counters on the Mangler won't change its power in any way.

Rockshard Elemental Creature -- Elemental 4/3 Double strike (This creature deals both first-strike and regular combat damage.) Morph (You may play this face down as a 2/2 creature for . Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.)

* The second ability applies while Root Sliver is in play and any other Sliver spells are on the stack.

Seedborn Muse Creature -- Spirit 2/4 Untap all permanents you control during each other player's untap step.

* All your permanents untap during each other player's untap step. You have no choice about what untaps.

* During each other player's untap step, effects that would otherwise cause your permanents to stay tapped don't apply because they only apply during your untap step. For example, Static Orb doesn't apply, and the Couriers from Onslaught will untap.

* If the creature is turned face up during the end of turn step, it will be sacrificed at the end of the next turn.

Warped Researcher Creature -- Wizard Mutant 3/4 Whenever a player cycles a card, Warped Researcher gains flying until end of turn and can't be the target of spells or abilities this turn.

* On your turn, an opponent can cycle a card that has a cycling triggered ability (such as Gempalm Incinerator) and target the Researcher with that ability. This works on your turn because your triggered abilities go on the stack first, so your opponent's ability will resolve before yours. This situation is reversed on your opponent's turn.

Whipgrass Entangler Creature -- Cleric 1/3: Until end of turn, target creature gains "This creature can't attack or block unless its controller pays for each Cleric in play. (This cost is paid as attackers or blockers are declared.)"

* If you play the Entangler's ability multiple times on the same creature, the costs are cumulative.

* The number of Clerics in play is counted when attackers or blockers are declared (as appropriate).